Quarter 3 Wrap up

            Ask yourself, if you walked down a street in a big city such as Chicago, what kinds of people would you see sitting on the sides of the streets asking for money? What kind of people would you see? Would they have signs that say, “ Work for food”? Most people will say black people or a different ethnic group besides white people. In society today prejudices and racism have shaped the country in countless ways through out all of American history. In the book The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, there are multiple examples of how racism shaped the country. This book was taken place when the civil rights were going on. When Lily and Rosealeen run away. Lily has to go into the store to buy her food because they would not service black people. This shows that Prejudices for black people back then were huge. The people in the town that Lily lived didn’t even allow black people to vote, the hospitals were segregated, and most of the black people were slaves. How did this shape the country? It gave black people a voice, an opinion and rights. Still to this day there are prejudices and racism going on. In the short story we read called In the American Society the dad who owns the pancake house was unsure about hiring a different race then he was. When a man comes in that looks like he has some miles on him, eyes half shut. The dad hires him but still a little nervous to see what he can do. It turned out he was one of the best workers he had ever had. Prejudices and racism will always be an issue in this country; it has shaped the country in all different ways such as stereotypes and options.

            Growing up in a strict family can be tough especially if you are Ruth in the Book The Color of Water by James McBride. In this book Ruth grows up being the preachers daughter. She always felt like she was trapped there were so many rules. Her family was Jewish and her whole life was devoted to the practices of her faith and not disowning her family. While she was growing up her dad was racist. When Ruth met her first love that was a black man. It was necessary to break all the rules. It wasn’t right for someone to not like a different skin tone. She ran away and never came back. It was wrong for someone to life like that. Her dad also molested her. If she had kept in her ways it would have changed her life completely. This is why she never told her kids about her life. She wanted them to grow up and find out for themselves. She also didn’t want to bring up the past while she was trying to forget it.

EDUCATE YOURSELF!

In the book we are reading called The Color of Water by James McBride, James, the main character, thinks as everyone as equal when he is a little kid. His mom Ruth influences him to thinking that is true. “ It doesn’t have a color,” she said. “God is the color of water. Water doesn’t have a color”(McBride51). Everyday she would tell him to educate himself and she wouldn’t tell him the whole truth. When James went to school he always thought how weird it was that he was the only black boy in the school but to him everything just seemed equal. Ruth, the mother of James, never stopped pushing the fact that he needed to educate himself. “ You’re a human being.” She snapped. “Educate yourself or you’ll be a nobody”(McBride 92)! She never told them about the world and how everyone preserves it. She wanted them to figure it out for them self’s. This relates to common life because how you’re brought up shows how you will be when you’re older. When people are brought up thinking that black people are bad. They will always think that. I think that Ruth is trying to get the kids to find out for them self and be their own person. When Ruth was brought up she was part of a Jewish family and they were very strict. She hated every minute of it. That is why she is letting her kids figure out what they want to see the world as. She doesn’t want them to end up like her. This connects to my friend’s life in a way she was brought up in a strict family and they were very strict about there religion but now she’s in collage and she left all of her strict traditions behind herm and moved on and swears that she will never bring up a family like the one that brought her up.